BANGKOK - TEN Muslim villagers killed by gunmen firing assault rifles into a mosque during evening prayers.

A 53-year-old Buddhist rubber tapper shot, decapitated and limbs cut from his torso, his head impaled on a stick.

The circumstances and brutality of those attacks this month have revived fears that a long-running insurgency in Thailand's south could be evolving into a sectarian conflict pitting Buddhists against Muslims.

Islamic separatists ignited the insurgency in January 2004, sparking a cycle of army repression and rebellion that has left more than 3,500 people dead.

Frustrated by their inability to curb the violence, Thai security forces have increasingly been arming civilian self-defense forces - almost all Buddhist - to protect villagers.

The proliferation of guns, many put in the poorly trained hands of parties with scores to settle, makes the situation extremely volatile.

The June 8 attack on the Al Furqan mosque in Narathiwat province's Joh-I-Rong district and its aftermath suggest such initiatives may have backfired.

With cold deliberation, five or six masked gunmen dressed in black poured fire into the mosque, which serves a community that had avoided the deadly tumult of recent years.

'Communities can no longer distinguish between security officers, insurgents and criminals,' says a report completed just before the recent attacks by Nonviolence International, a US-based pacifist group.

'Each new act of violence not only incites acts of revenge but also brings to the fore sentiments of nationalist extremism and ethno-religious divisions.'

Many local Muslims believe the mosque massacre was revenge for the killing of a young Buddhist rubber plantation worker in a nearby district earlier that day. -- AP